PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF ASCORBIC ACID

• Main Authors: ZOELLER, JOSEPH, ROBERT, PERRI, STEVEN, THOMAS, BLAIR, LARRY, WAYNE, ARUMUGAM, BHASKAR, KRISHNA, MACKENZIE, ELAINE, BEATRICE
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 05.07.2006
• Subjects: APPARATUS THEREFOR; CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOIDCHEMISTRY; CHEMISTRY; GENERAL METHODS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY; HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS; METALLURGY; ORGANIC CHEMISTRY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS; TRANSPORTING

The present invention is a process for the preparation of ascorbic acid using a simulated moving bed (SMB) reactor system to accomplish the simultaneous conversion of KLG or a derivative of KLG to ascorbic acid and the separation of reaction products. The SMB reactor contains a solid or mixture of solids effective for catalyzing the reaction of KLG or its derivative and for separating the reactions products by selective adsorption of at least one product. In a general embodiment, this process involves (1) feeding a solution of KLG or a derivative thereof in a first solvent and a desorbent which is miscible with the first solvent, to a simulated moving bed reactor; (2) reacting the KLG or the KLG derivative to form ascorbic acid; and (3) removing from the simulated moving bed reactor (i) a first liquid stream comprising a solution of ascorbic acid in the desorbent and the first solvent (ii) a second liquid stream comprising the first solvent and the desorbent.